Kenny Lomas

A pilot project that supports women who have had multiple children removed from their care has secured funding for another 18 months.

The Pause Programme is a national initiative that aims to break the cycle of repeat removals.

The St Helens practice, which has been running since October 2017 and is the first Pause practice in Merseyside, was initially funded until April.

According to the latest figures, there are 480 children in care in St Helens.

During the initial 18-month pilot, Pause St Helens worked with 21 women who between them have had 71 children removed.

The first class of women, who are aged between 21 and 38, graduated from the programme last week.

Work is now being undertaken to line up the next group after funding was secured from St Helens Council for another round.

Kelly Cox, Pause practice lead, provided an update on the pilot to the council’s children and young people’s services overview and scrutiny panel on Monday.

Ms Cox said: “We’re delighted to have the funding from the council to carry on and provide another round of the programme.

“At the moment we are supporting a group of women who are coming towards the end of their 18 months with Pause, and we are also reaching out to a group of new local women with the vision of making it a rolling programme so that there’s never a space vacant on the programme.

“That is the way we would like to deliver the service.”

On average, the first group of women had around four children removed from their care.

Ms Cox said the programme offers women the chance to “take a pause from pregnancy” for 18 months.